Lewis Reed

Opponents of a proposed $250,000 consulting contract between the city of St. Louis water department and the French utility company Veolia call the latest move in the saga by Mayor Francis Slay “political chicanery."

A judge has expunged the arrest record of a former executive director of the Missouri Democratic Party.

An order Friday by St. Louis Circuit Judge Robert Dierker says the arrest of Matthew Teter following a domestic incident was based on false information. The order also says there's no probable cause to believe he committed an offense and that no charges will be pursued.

Teter said he was forced out of his job at the Democratic Party in February 2012 after the arrest.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: The St. Louis mayoral contest may be over, but the campaign goes on.

On Tuesday, Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed registered yet another policy difference with Mayor Francis Slay, who’s starting an historic fourth term after defeating Reed in the March 5 Democratic primary.

But what was notable was that Reed used a campaign news release to do it.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: As St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay heads into the final lap of his historic bid for a fourth four-year term, expect to hear a lot more about “sustainability,” his top campaign issue for the general election

But “sustainability’’ – in a different sense – is also an apt word to describe the questions at City Hall, as the mayor, his allies and his political opponents recalibrate their relationships in the wake of his Democratic primary victory last week over Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: Post-election analysis frequently addresses concepts that have been used in the past. Change is sometimes given short shrift. Before looking at the returns from the mayor’s race, a few points should be made about the campaign.

Certainly incumbent Francis Slay had a great deal more money than his challenger. That allowed him to put several warm and fuzzy ads on television and send out a number of mailers, some not so fuzzy. Yet, if money were always the determinant in a St. Louis race, Tom Villa would have been elected mayor in 1993.

Every week, St. Louis Public Radio’s Chris McDaniel joins the St. Louis Beacon’s Jo Mannies and Jason Rosenbaum to talk about the week’s politics.

On this week's episode: The results from the mayoral primary are in. Why did Reed lose? Did Slay win by as much as he had hoped? Then Jo shares some stories from Democrat Days and we close it out with Lt. Governor Peter Kinder's lawsuit.

While other three-term mayors tried and failed to reach that milestone, Slay managed to achieve it with a 10-point victory in Tuesday's Democratic primary. He is heavily favored against Green Party nominee James McNeely in April's general election.

Francis Slay is now poised to win a fourth term as mayor of St. Louis.

Slay walked away with the Democratic primary on Tuesday, beating Board of Alderman President Lewis Reed and former Alderman Jimmie Matthews. Slay received 54 percent of the vote, Reed 44 percent and Matthews a little over one percent.

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: With polls opening in less than 24 hours, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and his chief rival – Aldermanic President Lewis Reed – are primarily focusing on one thing: getting their allied voters to show up.

St. Louis Aldermanic President Lewis Reed has had numerous challenges in his quest to upset Mayor Francis Slay in the Democratic Primary: a fundraising mismatch, switching campaign managers in the middle of the race, and a third candidate that has tried to steal his thunder, to name a few.

But in spite of this, many believe Reed is Slay’s most formidable challenger in years.

Every week, St. Louis Public Radio’s Chris McDaniel joins the St. Louis Beacon’s Jo Mannies and Jason Rosenbaum to talk about the week’s politics.

On this week's episode: photo-baum's on mayoral flyers, Shane Schoeller as the new executive director of the Missouri GOP, and the back and forth between Senator Claire McCaskill and newly-elected Congresswoman Ann Wagner on the Violence Against Women Act.

A week out from the Democratic mayoral primary, incumbent Mayor Francis Slay is maintaining his large financial advantage over challenger and Board of Alderman President Lewis Reed.

According to campaign finance reports filed Monday evening, in a month long span from Jan. 20 to Feb. 21, Slay spent $479,291. During that same amount of time, Reed spent only a fraction of that at $88,470.

In a late afternoon press conference Thursday, Board of Alderman President and mayoral candidate Lewis Reed accused incumbent Mayor Francis Slay of engaging in a "pay-to-play" system where businesses seeking construction contracts have to first make a donation to the mayor's campaign. The mayor's staff insisted that there are too many safeguards for this to even be possible.

At Monday's forum, the three Democratic candidates made their case for why they should be St. Louis' next mayor. Incumbent mayor Francis Slay is seeking an unprecedented fourth four-year term, while the other two candidates argued it was time for someone else to take the reins.

At a mayoral debate showcasing the three Democrats vying for the position in the March 5 primary, challenger and Board of Alderman President Lewis Reed wasted no time before going after his opponent.

Crime was by far the most contentious issue in the forum that filled two overflow rooms and was standing room only. Several times at the debate, Reed interrupted incumbent Mayor Francis Slay when he was talking about the city's lowering crime rate.

St. Louis Mayoral candidate Lewis Reed is accusing Mayor Francis Slay of campaigning at the expense of taxpayers.

Reed, President of the Board of Aldermen, alleges Slay is holding meetings with city employees to campaign for votes while they are on the clock. Glenn Burleigh, Reed’s campaign manager, claims it’s a coordinated effort aimed at multiple departments.

“Telling folks on taxpayer dime: that’s what’s important here," Burleigh said. "These are trash collectors, that instead of picking up trash, were listening to the mayor.”

Updated to note that Slay filed multiple reports, and thus raised and spent more than quarterly report reflected.

The latest quarterly reports are in for the 2013 mayoral primary in the city of St. Louis, and incumbent Mayor Francis Slay continues to hold a huge fundraising advantage over challenger Lewis Reed, the Board of Aldermen president.

Board of Aldermen president Lewis Reed officially threw his hat into the ring today in a press conference at Sqwires in Lafayette Square, part of his ward before he ran for board president.

This campaign is a "mission of change," Reed told his supporters, calling Slay an ineffective leader more interested in photo ops and managing the media than with bringing people together to solve the city's problems.

Lafayette Square, he said, was improved through cooperation. Ineffective leadership has stifled similar efforts citywide.

"We can accept those things that divide us, or we can work toward a common purpose to improve our communities," Reed said. "We can continue to develop reactionary policies, or we can bring the brightest minds together to develop long-term strategies to turn St. Louis into a world-class destination."

Here are some highlights from Reed's announcement:

The reverend offering the opening prayer just called Mayor Slay Goliath.

The dispute over the best way to reduce the cost of firefighter pensions in the city of St. Louis continued on Friday, with Lewis Reed, the president of the Board of Aldermen, laying out his plan.

Reed, whose Twitter feed tracked the progress of a Thursday late-night meeting among himself, firefighters, and selected aldermen, says his plan will reduce the city's required contribution into the Fireman's Retirement System for next year by $7.6 million. Reed unveiled the plan at a City Hall news conference Friday.